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THOUGHTS: Vanessa, an Orphic Divinity
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absolutely,VN planted a lot of treasures for us sailors to find.
Mary Efremov
Dear Matt (and the List),
I'm not entirely convinced that Kinbote is aware of the connection between
the genus Vanessa and Swift's poem beyond the simple fact that it is the
same name. The first sentence (rather cryptic with its "so like the heart
of a scholar": why scholar? isn't it the poet who searches and finds a fond
name for his wife?), could be read as demonstrating just what sort of
scholar Kinbote is: he giddily trots all his references out without
realizing that not all of them are of equal value. When discussing the
butterfly Vanessa atalanta, he appreciates the pleasant weirdness of the
fact that Vanessa and Atalanta appear close together in an old poem, but
I'm not sure he realizes that this is the very poem which was used to name
the butterfly genus and that the weirdness is actually almost magical,
aesthetic. The reference to Phanes could then serve as proof that Kinbote
accepts Sodoffsky's etymology (Phanes / "Phanessa" -> butterfly genus) and
misses the truth (Swift's poem -> butterfly genus).
All the best,
Sergey
On May 31, 2013, at 2:03 PM, Roth, Matthew wrote:
> Many thanks to Sergey Karpukhin for clarifying the origins of the
Vanessa/Phanessa conflation. I had not been able to locate that information
myself, so I am grateful to have it. Kinbote’s knowledge of this very
obscure connection between the genus name and the divinity remains puzzling
to me, as it would seem to be an area of knowledge well beyond his
expertise. I feel sure that he makes the connection between the butterfly
and Swift, especially since he quotes the lines where Vanessa and Atalanta
appear together. But he could hardly have known about this obscure
etymological-entomological debate. Perhaps the more important question is
why did Nabokov want us to find (as he surely did) the divinity Phanes?
>
> Matt
>
--
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Co-Editor, NABOKV-L
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Mary Efremov
Dear Matt (and the List),
I'm not entirely convinced that Kinbote is aware of the connection between
the genus Vanessa and Swift's poem beyond the simple fact that it is the
same name. The first sentence (rather cryptic with its "so like the heart
of a scholar": why scholar? isn't it the poet who searches and finds a fond
name for his wife?), could be read as demonstrating just what sort of
scholar Kinbote is: he giddily trots all his references out without
realizing that not all of them are of equal value. When discussing the
butterfly Vanessa atalanta, he appreciates the pleasant weirdness of the
fact that Vanessa and Atalanta appear close together in an old poem, but
I'm not sure he realizes that this is the very poem which was used to name
the butterfly genus and that the weirdness is actually almost magical,
aesthetic. The reference to Phanes could then serve as proof that Kinbote
accepts Sodoffsky's etymology (Phanes / "Phanessa" -> butterfly genus) and
misses the truth (Swift's poem -> butterfly genus).
All the best,
Sergey
On May 31, 2013, at 2:03 PM, Roth, Matthew wrote:
> Many thanks to Sergey Karpukhin for clarifying the origins of the
Vanessa/Phanessa conflation. I had not been able to locate that information
myself, so I am grateful to have it. Kinbote’s knowledge of this very
obscure connection between the genus name and the divinity remains puzzling
to me, as it would seem to be an area of knowledge well beyond his
expertise. I feel sure that he makes the connection between the butterfly
and Swift, especially since he quotes the lines where Vanessa and Atalanta
appear together. But he could hardly have known about this obscure
etymological-entomological debate. Perhaps the more important question is
why did Nabokov want us to find (as he surely did) the divinity Phanes?
>
> Matt
>
--
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Co-Editor, NABOKV-L
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/